Website Design Inspiration?

Sometimes when i try to make a good looking template with photoshop cs3 i just get frustated and eventually just stop and start doing something else. Because i cant get the colours and design right? maybe im trying to hard?

But anyway, When you design a template with photoshop for a client and so, where do you people get the inspiration from and how do get the colours right?

Is there something you do before making an nice template?

Main Question: Where do you get the inspiration for your design? Where do you get the idea of how to make the design? How do you get the coulours right?A

THANKS,

 

ONe thing you can do is take a picture you like which is relevant to the theme you are making, extract colors from that picture and try to place that picture somewhere in the design or part of the picture. This approach works for many

Look at existing templates or websites to get inspiration. It will be tough initially but once you are into it, you will enjoy it and sometimes amazed by your own creativity. my website has some good resources for inspiration http://itdiscover.com/links/taxonomy/term/91/9 in case it helps. It also has a section of photoshop resources.

 

Hi, I just clicked on your url tnk but it came up with a page full of mysql errors, maybe just a temporary glitch, but thought you would like to know

 

I found the inspiration list at
toxel.com/design/2008/11/10/24-css-design-showcase-websites/

It can help you

 

www.thefwa.org

'nuff said

 

Great stuff here, but this is the top end of Flash design - skills that most developers don't have outside of large agencies.

Have a look at these two sites for design inspiration:

http://designmeltdown.com/

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/

 

in terms of finding colour schemes that work I find kuler DOT adobe DOT com a good place to go.

(sorry can't post live links yet)

 

to get the right color, you can use online tools provided by www_dot_colorschemer_dot_com . You can also download the application from this website. The application show you the color harmony, triad color, etc. It has 15 days free trial.

Good luck !

Arief

 

creation isnt copying
i say you're trying to hard!

 

CSS Zen Gardens is a good source for inspiration, as is searching for "buy website template" on Google. Don't actually buy the templates, but there's some real nice ones out there for inspiration

 

Personally I look at others' designs and try to draw inspiration from them, changing the colours and layout to something that is more suited to what the client wants, or if I'm just making a template for fun, then whatever I think looks good. I try not to copy others' work, more redesign it...

 

A little trick in Photoshop is to select "Colour Libraries" from the colour selection window, most of the Pantone colours are displayed as swatches rising in lightness which is a great way to pick colour schemes

 

ahh... ...........

 

Live link: http://kuler.adobe.com (Is this slow to use for anybody else as it is for me?)

And yes, this site is well worth checking out for colour ideas

This is worth looking at too:

http://www.colorsontheweb.com/

 

for inspiration you could visit csszengardens.com.also you can browse many websites and pick up the ideas.To get the colors right you could use colorpicker tools.

 

There is a whole internet full of inspiration. I will often look at the site I'm building and then look at similar sites and made a list of the things that really work then try to incorporate those features into my site.

Colors is hard. Search Adobe Kuler in goole - that could help you.